How Baby Got Her Name
by seaspn
Summary: My take on how Dean's beloved car got her name. Was going to be a one-shot, but apparently my muse wasn't done with one chapter.
1. Chapter 1

"It's OK, Baby. Don't listen to that heathen." Dean cooed to his car after Sam had once again told him to 'get a room' while climbing into his shotgun seat.

"You know, in all these years, I've never asked why you call her 'Baby'." Sam asked after closing the door with its distinctive squeak.

Dean turned to his brother with a stupefied look on his face. "What do you mean? She's always been called Baby." After seeing Sam's blank expression, he elaborated. "Don't you remember? Dad always called her that; for as long as I can remember."

"Did you ever ask him why?" Sam may have started this conversation to annoy his big brother but now he really wanted to know the answer.

"Yeah, I did once; when I was about 8 or 9." Dean replied as a far-away look crossed his face. "We were working on something, changing the air filter I think. He stopped what he was doing and just slowly smiled as he looked at me. Then he turned back to the engine and said 'it was your mother's idea'. He was real quiet for a long time after that."

_X_

"Dean sure does love the Impala, doesn't he?" Mary Winchester asked watching her young son grinning from ear to ear as he climbed into the backseat of their car.

"Ya think?" John replied while rolling his eyes. "What gave you that idea? The shrieking 'Pala 'Pala 'Pala since I picked up the keys?"

Mary groaned as another contraction started. "Well, if we don't hurry, his little brother or sister is going to be born in the front seat of his 'Pala'."

John Winchester carefully closed the passenger door after making sure his wife was safely in the front seat. He climbed into the driver's seat with a mischievous grin on his face. "I think that would be fitting. One born in the front seat, one conceived in the back seat."

Mary started laughing. "We can call her the Baby Machine!"

John turned the key in the ignition and the family car roared to life and he steered his growing family toward the hospital. "Or, just Baby, for short."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Honest, Sammy. That's where babies come from." Dean told his five year old little brother as he brought the soapy sponge back up to the Impala's fender.

Sam peered into the back seat of the family car that had been the only stable home of his young life. He turned back to his big brother. Dean knew everything, so if he said so, it must be true.

"What are you boys talking about?" Bobby asked as he and John Winchester walked over from where they'd been having a beer on the front porch.

"Dean was telling me where babies come from." Sam proudly reported.

"Yeah?" Frowning, Bobby turned to John. "Your dad told you that already, did he?"

The oldest Winchester shook his head side to side. Then he looked down at his oldest boy. "Dean, where do you think babies come from?"

"Duh, dad." Dean answered as he dipped the sponge back in the bucket. "The back seat of the Impala."

"What?" John asked after both he and Bobby had spit out their mouthfuls of beer.

Dean now had a concerned look on his face. "Well, you went to pick up mom and when you came back, she was in the back seat and Sammy was strapped into his car seat. So, babies must come from the back seat." The boy looked from the Impala to his dad. "Isn't that why you call her Baby?"


	3. Swayze always gets a pass

Dirty Dancing

"Oh my god, Dean. What the hell are you watching?" An exhausted Sam asked as he walked into their motel room de jour. "Is that _Dirty Dancing_?"

"I've told you before Sam, Swayze always gets a pass." Dean replied from where he was stretched out on his bed.

" _Dirty Dancing_ , really?" Sam asked as he sat his laptop and the food he had picked up on the table. "Haven't you seen that, like a dozen times?"

Dean just shrugged his shoulders and kept watching the old movie. That his older brother was ignoring food told Sam there had to be a story behind Dean's love of a what was most definitely a 'chick flick'. He pulled Dean's burger and fries out of the bag and brought them over to his brother's bed.

Sam sat down leaning against his headboard with his legs stretched out. "So, what's so special about this Patrick Swayze movie? I mean _Road House_ , I could see…"

Dean just stared for a few seconds then he picked up the remote and turned down the sound. A wistful smile ghosted across his face. "I was 16 and had just gotten my driver's license." Dean turned to his little brother, grinning now. "A real one; passed driver's Ed and everything."

"OK." Sam nodded, knowing his brother had been driving for years, ever since their dad had been taking Dean on hunts.

"Dad let me use the Impala to go on my first real date. Can't even remember the girl's name, but we went to the drive-in. I was so happy to be out in the car, just sitting there watching a couple of old movies with my arm around a pretty girl….." Dean, who had been following the movie while talking, turned the volume on the TV back up.

Sam noticed it was the big final dance scene. He watched Dean watching as Swayze walked across the floor, stared down the father and held out his hand to the actress. _'Nobody puts Baby in a corne_ r…' and it suddenly hit him.

"This, ….this is why you call the Impala Baby?"


End file.
